What is the greatest award you could ever receive?
A Nobel Prize?
A Pulitzer Prize?
An Oscer?
A Grammy?
A Green Chapter Award?
Well, while receiving any of these is a great achievement, the prize that should jump to the mind of any Northeastern American Chemist should be the Esselen Award. This award is given annually to chemists whose work has benefited society and given chemistry a good name, and is the highest honor given by the Northeast Section of the American Chemical Society. Each year, the recipient gives a lecture at Harvard University, and then accepts the prize medal and $5000.
Since the revival of the Gordon College Student Chapter of the ACS, we have attended this event annually. This year, the recipient was Bruce Ganem, gave a talk titled "Lost (Sometimes) In Translation: Advancing Chemical Discoveries Beyond the Laboratory". In this talk, he detailed the work he had done, especially concerning how he helped some of his discoveries in lab to become actual useful consumer products. Among these was an ingenious new method for cleaning donor tissue involving super critical Carbon Dioxide. Prior to attending this event, we had dinner at Border Cafe in Harvard Square. A mixture of students attended, along with Professors Tshudy and Levy.
It's really awesome to be able to see some of the results of dedication to good chemistry. Being as close to Boston as Gordon is opens that opportunity for us.
Thank you to everyone who came!
-C.J
